A sign is seen at an entrance to Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on August 9, 2018. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images/TNS)

Fallon Roth | (TNS) The Philadelphia Inquirer

The New Jersey Attorney General's office has decided not to renew liquor licenses at two former President Donald Trump golf courses in the state after weeks of reviewing whether the revocation of the licenses should be a consequence of Trump's 34 capital crime convictions.

Under New Jersey state law, no one who has been “convicted of a crime of moral turpitude” may hold a liquor license. And the Attorney General's Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control concluded that Trump directly benefits financially from the licenses, the office said in a statement.

The two clubs affected – Trump National Golf Club Colts Neck and Trump National Golf Club Bedminster – are allowed to serve alcohol under a temporary permit until a renewal hearing on July 19 in Trenton. The hearing – eight days after Trump's conviction – will decide the official fate of the licenses, which expired on Sunday. License applicants must prove at the hearings that they can keep their licenses.

“A final judgment of guilt, which opens the possibility of barring Mr. Trump from holding a New Jersey liquor license based on the New York conviction, will not be entered until after his sentencing, which is currently scheduled for July 11,” the Attorney General's office said.

Trump's third golf club in Jersey, the Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia in Pine Hill, was not affected by the decision.

Both notices of hearing to renew the licenses are addressed to the former president's son, Donald Trump Jr., whose name is on the liquor licenses. However, the elder Trump benefits from the profits and income from the licenses and is “the sole beneficiary of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust under which all assets of the organization are held,” the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control's notices of hearings say.

Trump was the first former US president to be convicted of a serious crime after a 12-member jury found him guilty on 34 counts of attempting to influence the 2016 election through hush money payments.

Following the May 31 conviction, New Jersey authorities began an investigation to determine the impact of Trump's convictions on his liquor licenses in the state. The investigation included an assessment of Trump's criminal past and whether he is “honorable” and able to run the business “honorably.”

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